An off color, hi-flying KXIP falls to KKR’s consistency

In match 34 of Pepsi IPL 2014 KKR Captain Gautam Gambhir again got his team a win against table toppers KXIP who had nothing working for them. Gambhir’s consistent batting gave his team a win in the Barabati stadium in Cuttack that is vital for their bare survuival. KKR did everything correct while KXIP had an off day. KKR’s thumping win over in form KXIP by nine wickets with 12 balls to spare was indeed a message to all teams as to how consistency pays off. Gautam claimed his consecutive man of the match award as he made a sterling unbeaten 63. KKr bowlers Piyush Chawla got three wickets while giving away 19 runs fom his four overs while Sunil Narine got 2 for 20 runs in his 4 overs. KKR bowlers did well to contain the hard hitting and dangerous KXIP batsmen to 149 for eight from their 20 overs. Upon winning the toss Gambhir put KXIP to bat and Virender Sehwag exhibiting his class got 17 of the first over by Jacques Kallis. Mandeep Singh who partnered Sehwag was out without scoring in the second over off the bowling of Morne Morkel. Then a confident Wriddhiman Saha scored a fluent 15 before being dismissed by Morkel in the sixth over. At 48 for two the stage was set for the most awaited batsman of Pepsi IPL 7 to take over and Glenn Maxwell walked in. Maxwell could not flourish while Sehwag made hay at the other end. Piyush Chawla then claimed the big wicket of Maxwell on 14 in the 11th over and then bowled Sehwag on 72 that came in 50 balls including eleven fours and a maximum. David Miller went for 13 as Umesh Yadav cleaned him up in the 16th over to leave KXIP on 120 for five. Then Rishi Dhawan left for 4, Mitchell Johnson on 14 and Akshar Patel was run out while George Bailey remained unbeaten on 12. Robin Uthappa and Gambhir started the KKR innings very sensibly always maintaining a run-rate of close to nine per over as a result KKR’s 50 came in the sixth over. Uthappa again fell short of his half-cenrury by 4 as he got out on 46 from 28 balls. Pandey, 36 not out and his captain not only brought up KKR’s 100 in the 12th over but also with their 82 run unbroken stand registered a massive nine-wicket with a full two overs to spare over...

Gambhir rescues KKR in time to finish off DD

In match 28 KKR were led from the front by skipper Gautam Gambhir scoring 69 to defeat DD by eight wickets perhaps ending the latter’s chances of climbing up on the ladder in Pepsi IPL 7 at the half way mark of the league games. Gautam was ably supported by opening partner Robin Uthappa who made a brilliant 47 as KKR registered a thumping win over a crumbling DD. KKR successfully chased down the target of 160 set up by DD. Chasing 161 the KKR openers put up yet another century stand that gave KKR a lifeline through gaining 2 points which were very necessary for KKR to survive in this tournament. For KKR this is the third win from the eight matches they have played out so far. However DD seems to have lost its chances of getting to the play offs as they have already lost 6 games out of the eight they have played. DD won the toss and chose to bat first. Their typical story of the top order collapse was again repeated in back to back matches. Quinton de Kock for 10, Murali Vijay for 24, Kevin Pietersen, 6, Shukla for 0 and Dinesh Karthik, 36 were all dismissed cheaply and none could stand their ground for the benefit of the team DD. It was only JP Duminy unbeaten on 40 joined by Kedar Jadhav unbeaten on 26 who led a late charge to take DD to a respectable total. Thanks to the efforts DD notched up 160 for five in their quota of 20 overs. In reply Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir took KKR to 106 in the 12th over before Wayne Parnell trapped Uthappa leg-before wicket. After having survived a lot of close calls Gambhir finally left after being caught behind by Karthik. It was Gambhir’s 22nd fifty in IPL, the most by any batsman and the most runs scored by a captain in IPL 7 as of yet. Pandey and Jacques Kallis took KKR to victory over DD at the Kotla with 10 balls to spare. The man of the match befittingly went to Gautam...

CSK bulldoze a shaky KKR to win match 21

CSK charged to a thumping win over KKR by 34 runs at Ranchi in the opening encounter of the Indian leg of the Pepsi IPL 7 in match 21. CSK Captain MS Dhoni had won the toss to bat first at his home ground in a rain delayed game where the contest was reduced to 17 overs for each side. Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum gave the CSK innings another thunderous beginning that put the sound of a brewing storm and splashing rain to shame. However Smith’s game culminated after just a few big shots on 16 as he was trapped leg before wicket by Shakib Al Hasan in the third over. Suresh Raina and McCullum took the entire responsibility of setting up a challenging target for KKR upon their shoulders and fulfilled it with flair. The CSK total stood at 85 for 1 after 10 overs were bowled by KKR. Suresh Raina scored a short 31 before getting out to a Shakib stunner. McCullum however was in full swing and finished on 56 on an Andre Russell ball in the 15th over. The 100 of the CSK innings came in the 12th over itself due to the electrifying atmosphere created by the power hitting of McCullum. Lastly an unbeaten 22 by Dhoni and unbeaten 17 from the willow of Ravindra Jadeja hauled the CSK total to a more formidable 148 for the loss of three wickets at the end of the innings. KKR had simply no answer to the invincible target set up by the men in yellow, CSK. They tumbled to 114 for 9 in their allocated 17 overs to lose another match. Ravindra Jadeja had excellent figures of 4-0-12-4 while Mohit Sharma showed 3-0-22-3 to curb KKR and aid CSK to another fulfilling and morale boosting win. KKR opener Robin Uthappa began well as a solid innings had been awaited from him while KKR Captain Gautam Gambhir’s pie again crumbled on 6 being run out in the second over. Uthappa scored 47 runs, promptly hit out at anything even remotely loose sent down by the CSK bowlers dispatching them to the fence with much panache. He had a dearth of partners as no other KKR batsmen either had the intention or could survive at the other end. Jacques Kallis went for 4 claimed by Ashwin in the fifth over. Then Jadeja had two wickets from two consecutive balls to send back in form KKR batsmen Manish Pandey on 1 and Shakib Al Hasan without scoring to...

RR wins twister over KKR amid exciting Super Over

The ultimate Pepsi IPL 7 match 19 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on April 29, 2014 was tied between RR and KKR providing extreme excitement and some fabulous cricket. Both teams had come into their fifth match having won two and lost two. The ensuing tie between RR and KKR indicated that both the teams were at par. So the tense scenario of the Super Over was incident, the first instance in Pepsi IPL 7, yet the scores were tied on 11 runs each for KKR and RR. Amid extremely exhilarating circumstances RR claimed their two points as they were declared winners and edged past KKR as they had hit more number of boundaries during the regulation match. Shane Watson the RR skipper upon winning the toss chose to bat in Abu Dhabi and Ajinkya Rahane and Nair opened the RR innings. Vinay Kumar of KKR bowled Nair on 1 in the third over to let the young sensation Sanju Samson join Rahane in the middle. RR cruised past the 50-run mark in the eighth over with these two meddling the ball well enough. Shakib Al Hasan scalped Samson on 20 making it 54 for 2 for RR. RR Captain Shane Watson and Rahane then build a valuable third-wicket partnership yielding 64 runs. Watson perished on 33 as he was unfortunately run-out. Rahane continued his good streak until he was caught at long-on going for a big hit off Vinay Kumar after having played a brilliant knock of 72 in the 20th over of the RR innings. Meanwhile Stuart Binny was dismissed for a duck, Steve Smith scored an unbeaten 18 and birthday boy James Faulkner remained unbeaten on 2. RR set up a competitive 152 for five for KKR to chase down and win. The KKR bowlers Vinay Kumar took two wickets with Morne Morkel and Shakib Al Hasan scalping one each. KKR responded with skipper Gautam Gambhir and Manvinder Bisla taking strike against the onslaught of the RR bowlers. After some struggle Gambhir finally started to strike the ball having set his eye. However the KKR batting exhibited much to be desired in their top order as Bisla who could somehow manage only 3 in his maiden outing of the season was dismissed after having been frustrated by Kane Richardson. Next to leave was the experienced South African all rounder Jacques Kallis on 13 from 19 balls. Then Pandey followed suit on 19 whose wicket was claimed by RR spinner Tambe. In the meanwhile...

KKR buckle under KXIP bowling

KXIP bowlers have shown that they have the mettle in them to successfully defend 132 as KXIP won against KKR on 26th April 2014 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. By winning match 15 of the Pepsi IPL 7 KXIP have won four of their consecutive encounters being the only unbeaten team as of yet. Earlier KKR won the toss and asked KXIP to bat first. Cheteshwar Pujara lost his wicket on 8 in the second over as he was run-out. Wriddhiman Saha joined Virender Sehwag was then trapped leg-before by Jacques Kallis. Glenn Maxwell the most awaited star batsmen strode out to accompany Sehwag and both were as expected hitting out at the KKR bowlers but Maxwell perished on 15 leaving all in the stadium shell shocked. It was as if the KXIP batsmen had a day off as David Miller made 14, Captain George Bailey, 11 and Sehwag, 37 left at whim to make it 101 for five. Then the next set of batsmen followed who were all submissive to the KKR spinners as they scalped Akshar Patel, 7, Mitchell Johnson, 0 and Lakshmipathy Balaji 0. For KKR both the spinners Mishra and Narine, bagged three wickets apiece and were the chief architects of KXIP’s collapse. KXIP were reduced to 132 for nine. Defending a modest 132 runs the KXIP bowlers led by Sandeep Sharma dismissed KKR for 109 to register a 23-run win in match 15 of Pepsi IPL 7. Manish Pandey and Jacques Kallis opened for KKR but Pandey left on 8 as he was trapped leg-before in the third over by Sandeep Sharma. Gautam Gambhir just scrapped though the skin of his teeth from getting another duck against his name. he however looked completely lost as he swayed his willow to give an easy catch getting out after scoring one run. It was Sandeep Sharma gain who struck this vital blow to KKR. KKR were reduced to 19 for three and desperately needed to anchor their innings for a successful chase. Chris Lynn, 13, Robin Uthappa, 19, Yusuf Pathan, 3, Chawla, 0, Narine, 5 and Umesh, 2 all simply came and saw but left after they were conquered by the KXIP bowlers. Despite Suryakumar Yadav’s, 34 in 17 balls the seemingly inadequate target set up KXIP was out of KKR’s reach. KKR’s innings came to a close for 109 in 18.2 overs. For KXIP, Sharma took three wickets for 21 in his four overs. He was equally supported by Johnson and Patel, who...